Pizza, Pasta and Poker by Vince Burgio BOOK REVIEWS
		Pizza, Pasta and Poker By: Ashley Adams, ThePokerForum.com "Best Poker Book of 2006" Have you been to the bookstore lately and looked for books on poker? It's amazing, isn't it? I remember, not that long ago, when it was tough to find one good book on our favorite game. The few that there were, were mixed in with other books on games. Typically there'd be Hoyle's book on the rules of card games, perhaps something by John Scarne, and maybe a couple of poker books that focused on 5- card draw. If you wanted a serious poker book you had to order one directly from the publisher or through a place that specialized in poker books like the Gambler's Book Club, Conjelco, or the Gambler's General Store. It wasn't until three or so years ago that there were even enough poker books in mainstream bookstores to take up a shelf. But today they have an entire section devoted exclusively to poker books. Frankly, even as an avid reader, I've found it hard to keep up with the literature - there are just so many books. This past year, 2006, there were more poker books published than in any prior year. Well-known poker players or poker authors wrote many of them. Lou Krieger and Sheree Bykovsky wrote an excellent strategy book: Secrets the Pros Won't Tell You. Daniel Harrington finished his earth-shaking trilogy on no limit tournament play, with The Workbook. Bill Chen, Johnny Chan, Antonio Esfandiari, Phil Gordon, David Sklansky, John Vorhaus, Matt Hilger, and Rolf Slotboom all published books that are well written and worth reading. With all of these titles, by all of these famous players and writers, it would be easy to miss what I consider to be a hidden gem. The book I liked the most - and name as the best book for 2006 -- is Pizza, Pasta and Poker by poker player and writer Vince Burgio. Burgio's autobiography doesn't cover poker strategy. There are no charts, no hand analysis, and no explanations of how he thinks about the game strategically. There are no chapters on playing the blind, how to deal with a short stack in a tournament, or when to go all in. But though we don't learn what made Burgio became so proficient at his best poker games of Ace to Five low-ball, Seven Card Stud Split or No Limit Hold 'em, we do learn that he did become proficient enough to win several major championships in these events. Burgio is a seasoned professional player who has won well over a million dollars in poker tournaments over the years - since he started playing them in the late 1980s. He won the best all around player award at the Four Queens in 1992, the stud-split event in the 1994 WSOP, the stud-split event at the 1998 LA Poker Classic, and finished an impressive fourth in the main event at the 1994 WSOP. He's cashed in dozens of other major tournaments and finished high in annual best all around poker player awards. He is also an accomplished poker writer - having published many columns in Card Player Magazine. To be sure, Vince Burgio is not now one of the hot young superstars of poker receiving almost rock star attention because of the explosion of tournament poker on TV. Though he remains an active tournament player, and is still a force to be reckoned with at the poker table today, his poker roots reach down into an earlier time--going back to the 60s and passing through the beginning of the current craze - as tournament poker became popular in Las Vegas and California in the early and mid-90s. Burgio has played with all of the greats - both past and present. His encounters with the superstars of today and yesterday like Howard Lederer, "Miami" John Cernuto, Men "The Master" Nguyen, Doyle Brunson, Johnny Moss, T.J. Cloutier, Phil Ivey, Daniel Negreanu, Jay Heimowitz, Jack McClelland, Russ Hamilton and Jack Strauss, are particularly engaging and well told. By presenting these poker luminaries in their earlier incarnations - before they became the household names of today - Burgio helps round out the poker picture that we have so enjoyed watching lately. This book also excels at showing us an interesting path to becoming a professional poker player. It is not a fantastic journey, but a relatively mundane one, well told, and with enough anecdotal suspense to make for a highly pleasurable read. In its normalcy it is compelling. Though we don't learn poker strategy, we do learn about Vince Burgio: his earliest poker session in his father's bar, his family in Kansas City, his time in the air force, his early poker career in Washington State, his loves, his successful construction business, his tournament trail experience, and his married life in California. He relays all this information in an exuberant, almost boyish fashion - which is as infectious as it is easily told. It is an accessible world that Mr. Burgio inhabits - one that recreational players can relate to. In these times of poker superstardom it is often difficult to penetrate through all of the hype and the mystique of the professional poker players' lifestyle and catch a clear glimpse of what goes on behind the sunglasses. Vince Burgio's autobiography,Pizza, Pasta and Poker gives us that look in this simple, interesting, and well told tale. Book Review: Pizza, Pasta and Poker Review by Scott Buono [Poker-Vibe.com)] Long before the days of Internet poker, and the proliferating casino tournament scene of today, one might wonder how poker players ever earned a living, let alone became what they are in the first place. Back in the days when “major” tournaments were numbered in the single digits on a yearly basis and “four figure” first place prizes were considered huge, how did anyone grind out the rent? In Pizza, Pasta and Poker, professional poker player and author Vince Burgio chronicles a very entertaining and succinct account of how it came to be for him; beginning with a nostalgic look at his earliest card-playing influences during childhood, all the way up to his ongoing involvement in today’s “poker boom” with his most recent triumphs at and away from the poker table. If you’re not at least an occasional reader of “CardPlayer” magazine since 1999, Burgio may be the most successful poker player you’ ve never heard of. With the advent of televised poker, however, it’s unlikely his name doesn’t at least ring a bell (quite loudly in fact) to anyone following the game. Vince tells his life story in an easy to read, down to earth, “regular guy” fashion, and leaves readers yearning for more details necessarily omitted from this epic saga covering several decades. Jumping ahead too many years at a time at certain stages is perhaps the only issue one might take with Burgio’s timeline, but it’s completely understandable and compensated by his focused and concise narrative. Growing up in Kansas City as the middle child among 4 sisters, Burgio’s exposure to card playing began at a very early age, at home games and in his father’s restaurant (between lunch and dinner crowds). His poker skills were honed in college and the air force, and really started to affect the lining of his pockets upon his first visits to the public card rooms in Seattle, where “Lowball” was the game of choice. It was in these surroundings where Vince heeded the call of a true “rounder”. Aside from the obvious focus on poker, Burgio takes the reader on a nomadic and sometimes exhausting journey as he tries to find his way in life. We travel back and forth among the different cities he called home, lured him to new job and business opportunities and kept him close to his family. We meet the women in his life, the daughters he cherishes and the many friends, all who influenced his decisions (some good, some bad) to either settle down or pack up everything he owned and start anew – something he did several times in his early adulthood. Particularly touching along the way are Burgio’s recounting of the passing of his beloved parents (his father while he was still a young college student), and a reunion with his 29 year old daughter (put up for adoption after an early failed relationship) that he had not seen since she was only days old. Much more importantly than all his poker accomplishments, it is through Vince’s personal life experiences that we come to clearly understand what makes him tick, and why it is not surprising at all that he succeeded in just about every endeavor he undertook, including poker. As he explains in several scenarios, “I think we are all motivated by the desire to make someone proud of us.” Ultimately, in the end, there is little doubt he accomplishes that and more. As the years progress, many factors make Burgio’s poker life and name become more “public” and well known. Inarguably, televised poker tournaments would change everything about how professional players were looked upon, and how their success was gauged. “Player of the Year” publications would measure one rising star (or “returning” in his case) against the next. Vince’s turn at such exposure was inevitable due to his consistent winning ways in the most prestigious poker tournaments of the day. His extraordinary feat of winning three consecutive tournaments in three days at the “World Poker Classic” (in 2005) held at the Plaza Hotel had other players doubting the daily bulletins were being updated, as the winner’s name never seemed to change! Appropriately, Burgio earned the nickname “Plaza Vince”. The winner of a World Series of Poker gold bracelet in 1994, (for Stud High/Low, or “Stud Split”), Burgio would go on that same year to almost win the $10,000 Main Event, finishing in 4th place. He recounts the circumstances and hand that crippled him at the final table (vs. Russ Hamilton’s first ever WSOP final table straight flush), but refuses to divulge the actual cards he held. It will remain a mystery until his hand is engraved onto his headstone. Another amusing anecdote from the same event is the revelation of Burgio’s firsthand knowledge of why Barbara Samuelson (Gold) may have failed to become the first woman in WSOP history to make the final table (she finished 10th). Without spoiling the story, it had less to do with her poker playing, and more to do with another player’s “call of nature”. Depending on one’s age, ethnicity and upbringing, reading “Pizza, Pasta and Poker” will stir the emotions, memories and interest of readers in varying degrees. There can be no doubt that Burgio’s Italian-American heritage greatly influences some of the experiences he narrates, and the humor, compassion and honesty found within his style of storytelling. Yet his bottom line is universally appealing, and his charm and savvy make this autobiography a worthwhile read. It is perhaps not until Burgio’s entire picture is painted that one realizes how inspirational the book truly is, owing to his modestly understated list of accomplishments. In the end, Vince leaves his readers gratefully reassured that his significant poker achievements are not what define his success in life. Rather, it is family; and being a husband, father, uncle and grandfather that are constant to him, and “the titles that really count.” Book Review: Pizza, Pasta and Poker by Howard Schwartz [Poker Player,  January 23, 2006 issue] Vince Burgio is one of the most likable high-stakes poker players anywhere. Forsaking the safety of his contracting business, Burgio eased into the world of poker before leaving the working-day life for the game became acceptable and popular. And now he's written a charming, colorful book that bears the unusual title of Pizza, Pasta and Poker -- The Private & Public Life of a Professional Poker Player. This is not a how-to-win at- poker book. It is more of a "glimpse of a professional poker player's life." Its purpose is to help the public understand what goes on in the lives of professional players, who "just happen to have not-so-normal lives." Burgio opens up his life to readers-his ups and downs, his wins and losses, discussing who he's known, who influenced him and the lessons he's learned the hard way -- and he does it with humility and style. With Burgio's fantastic memory for people, places and incidents, this book is a continuous entertaining trip down memory lane. In it you'll meet colorful characters, dealers, trivia (how a steak house was named after a cat, for example); how it feels to move from low-limit play to the highest stakes games; how this author faced and detected cheats and how pasta and pizza (part of the book title) became an integral part of his youth and maturation. Reading this life story is like following a mapmaker since Burgio lived in Missouri and Washington, played in a dozen more states and served in the military. Along the way, this good-will ambassador for poker made many friends. So it is that the book is packed with pictures but not indexed by name or places. But the 28 short chapters packed in a reasonably priced paperback it presents itself properly as a slice of life--with a little pepperoni and oregano tossed in. -Howard Schwartz
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